On the final night of his life, Buck Owens was not supposed to sing. He had already told his band he was going home. Then a family from Bend, Oregon, walked up and told him how far they had come, and the man who built the Bakersfield Sound decided to give them a show anyway. A few hours later, he was gone.
A Friday Night at the Crystal Palace
By 2006, the Crystal Palace was Buck Owens’ home stage in every sense. He had opened the nightclub, restaurant and museum in Bakersfield in 1996, the same year he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. For nearly ten years he had walked out on that stage with the Buckaroos on a regular basis, the red, white and blue guitar in his hands.
But his body had been slowing him down. He had beaten oral cancer in the early 1990s, then dealt with pneumonia and later a minor stroke in 2004. Those problems had already forced him to cut back on his weekly performances.
On Friday, March 24, Buck came to the club early. According to Jim Shaw, his longtime keyboard player and family spokesman, he sat down to a chicken-fried steak dinner and bragged that it was his favorite meal. After dinner, he told the band he did not feel well and would skip that night’s performance.
The Family From Bend, Oregon
Buck was getting ready to drive home when a group of fans came over to introduce themselves. They were a family from Bend, Oregon, and they told him they had made the long trip down to Bakersfield just to see him play.
That was all it took. Buck changed his mind and headed for the stage. Shaw later remembered what he told the audience that night.
“If somebody’s come all that way, I’m gonna do the show.” — Buck Owens
He added that he might groan and squeak a little, but he would see what he could do. Coming from a 76-year-old man who had planned to be home in bed, it was a promise and an apology at the same time.
One More Show
Nobody in the room knew they were watching the last performance of Buck Owens’ career. To the crowd, it was simply Buck doing what he had done for half a century: stepping up to the microphone and playing for whoever showed up.
When the show was over, he went home to his ranch just north of Bakersfield because he still was not feeling well.
Gone by Morning
Buck Owens died in his sleep in the early hours of Saturday, March 25, 2006. Shaw said it was believed to be around 4:30 in the morning. His family said the cause was heart failure.
When Shaw described that final day, he boiled it down to three things: the dinner Buck loved, one more show for the people who came to see him, and a quiet death in his own bed. For a man who had spent his life on stage, many fans felt it was about as gentle an ending as anyone could ask for.
Bakersfield Says Goodbye
The news hit Bakersfield hard. Merle Haggard, who had come up through the same honky-tonks, spoke about his old friend the day Buck died.
“Buck and I are from the same town.” — Merle Haggard
Haggard said the two of them had fought a lot of battles over the years and had always been on the same side, and that they had grown closer in recent years than either of them realized.
A public visitation was held at the Crystal Palace, the same room where Buck had played his final show a week earlier. The next day, about 2,000 friends, family members and fans filled Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield. Dwight Yoakam, Trace Adkins and Brad Paisley sang. Buck’s three sons remembered their father as stern but loving, a man who gave good advice.
Larry Daniels, who had worked for Buck for more than 30 years in radio, summed up what that last night said about him.
“He never turned a fan or listener away.” — Larry Daniels
Somewhere out there, a family from Oregon got the show they drove all those miles to see. They just had no way of knowing it would be the last one.
Did you ever see Buck Owens play live, at the Crystal Palace or anywhere else? We would love to hear your memories.